FITNESS PROFILE

How he got started: I got started in Canada in the combat challenge, and I had really great timing. I started entering the World's Toughest Firefighter Competitions in 1996 at the International Firefighter game in Chicago, receiving a bronze medal. I moved here in 1997 and continued to join the events. I competed in the international games that year and took a gold medal.

Most recent accomplishments: In Hawaii in 1998 I won a gold medal as the World's Toughest Firefighter in my division and silver overall. My next competition is in France in the year 2000, and right now I'm working on sponsorship.

Fitness regimen: Normally I work out three to four days a week for about two hours a day. I work shifts, but I usually get a workout in the afternoon. I do cardio, usually a combination of the transporter and the treadmill for about 30 to 45 minutes twice a week. While I'm on the treadmill, I try to build my endurance by putting the incline up and maxing out speed for about one minute at a time. Then I recover and go again. Days that I'm lazy I'll go to the beach and get a four-mile run in, and I always stretch. For my weight routine, I like to use the Hammerstrength machine circuit for upper body; I do lower body the next day. For competition, which I start training for six months beforehand, I have to increase my endurance and my strength. I'll weight-train three hours each day for three days.

Cardio becomes wind sprint training, mostly on the beach. I'll also go down to a building in Fort Lauderdale and run 30 stories. In addition, I do 2,000-meter swims three days a week, and a half-mile car pull twice a week. I'll also do a simulated competition twice a week, since I have a lot of the equipment here at my house. I can do all the events except the 10-foot wall climb; I don't have one of those.

Eating habits: Breakfast is usually Oatmeal Squares or Cheerios - I'm not a big breakfast eater. I have about three glasses of orange juice and vitamin supplements three times a day (multivitamin, herbals and cell activator). Lunch is usually a turkey, chicken or tuna sandwich. I have a protein shake usually after my workout. For dinner I usually eat homemade pizza. My wife is a pretty good cook and makes a whole-wheat dough, and we'll have broccoli, spinach, eggplant, pesto sauce or tomato sauce on the pizza. We do that usually about three times a week. When I do have meat, my wife will make applesauce meatballs over pasta. Sometimes I'll have a big salad with vinegar or honey-mustard dressing for dinner.

Motivation: I like staying in shape, and competing helps to motivate me to stay in shape. On my off time of the year, it's harder for me to go to the gym. It's the fact that I know I'm training for competition that drives me to work out, so I stay in shape. Also, firefighting is very demanding, and training helps me in my work. There's a lot of physically demanding work even with rescue, which is most of our calls, and it helps prevent me from getting injured.

Also in my work I see a lot of elderly people who are out of shape. And I see my father who is 63 who has always worked out, and he is in great shape. He still goes sailing. I want to be able to do the things I'm doing now even when I'm in my 60s and 70s.

Advice: For starters, take it slow. Don't jump in and think you're going to make big gains right away, because you'll get burned out quickly. For competing, first you just have to want it more than anybody else. When you're training for competition and you're feeling bad, you have to push yourself through it. That's how you win it. Go past your limits.